Interested in applying for APA Fellow status for the first time, through the Society for Health Psychology (APA Division 38)?

All applications to be an APA Fellow must be made via the APA Online Fellows Application Platform. This system allows nominees, endorsers and division Fellow chairs to submit all required documents online.

The APA online portal for initial fellow applicants will open on August 6. The Society for Health Psychology (D38) deadline for submission of all materials to the platform is DECEMBER 15 (annually).

Please visit the APA Fellows webpage for more information and to access the online system:

(If you need help accessing the platform or have any questions, please contact Sonja Wiggins in APA’s Central Office at 800-374-2721 or email.)

Because of the rigid timetable for reviewing and processing applications, there will be no extensions to this deadline for first-time applicants. Nominees whose applications are incomplete as of the deadline will not be considered further in the current year, but will have the opportunity to reactivate their applications the following year.

The SfHP Fellows Committee forwards their recommendations to the APA Membership Committee, whose recommendations are confirmed by the APA Council of Representatives at the APA Convention. Thus, the final outcome of applications for Fellows will not be known until after the annual APA Convention (in the year following the deadline). Shortly after the APA Convention, SfHP will notify new Fellows of their status and send certificates of acknowledgement.

First-time nominees should complete the Uniform Fellow Application. It is also required that each applicant prepare a Self-Statement, which highlights the outstanding and unusual contributions to Health Psychology which warrant Fellow status (demonstration of national impact is required). Upload a current C.V. (showing an ‘R’ notation in the margin for publications listed which appeared in refereed publications).

Nominees who have never held Fellow status in any APA division (initial Fellows) should also provide an APA Standard Evaluation Form and a Fellow Status Evaluation Worksheet (which can be used by the endorsers to help ensure that a variety of criteria have been addressed in their letters) from at least three (3) evaluators who are APA Fellows. At least two of those three evaluators must be Fellows of The Society for Health Psychology (click here for a list of current SfHP Fellows). It is suggested that evaluators be from different institutions, and at least one evaluator should be an individual with whom you have never had a continuing personal association.

It is strongly recommended that the nominee provide a copy of his/her self-statement and/or C.V. with the instructions sent to each evaluator. The most effective endorsement letters are those that systematically and specifically address the APA Fellows criteria. The nature of the “unusual and outstanding” contributions or performance in the field of psychology should be specified in sufficient detail so that members of both the SfHP and APA committees who may be unacquainted with the candidate’s work can write an evaluation of the candidate’s qualifications relevant to the Fellows criteria.

With this in mind, the evaluators should complete the forms and post them to the APA Fellows portal by December 15.

Please contact the SfHP administrative office for a “Current Fellow” application. You will be asked to prepare a thorough self-statement describing your accomplishments in health psychology, and to provide a current C.V. Endorsers are not needed.

All “Current Fellow” applications are due to on/before December 15. (Do not use the APA online portal.)